There are over a billion gamers in the world.
70 % of the gamers are spending more than $ 3000/ year on games and setup upgrades.
And in the last year alone the gaming industry generated a whole revenue of $159.90 Billion !!
That’s A Super Huge market there.
Gaming is now more popular than ever, And from stats above, we can say that people are willing to spend their money on games.
According to Statista, there is at least 1 gamer in every household in the US alone.
And all these people are going to google regularly to know about the latest games, PCs and setups which they can buy.
So if you are a passionate gamer and have tons of knowledge about the gaming industry and its games, then it’s the perfect time to take advantage of all those gamers out there.
But I know the gaming niche is quite competitive in Google.
There are mega gaming publications like IGN, TheVerge, GamesRadar, MetaCritic and others to mention.
But it’s not impossible.
You can still start a gaming blog and grow it, if you take a strategic approach.
So if you want to start a gaming blog and help the thousands of gamers out there while making some money for yourself, then keep reading.
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Choose A Profitable Micro-Niche
This has to be the most important part whenever you start a blog.
So what is a niche? Long story short it is the main topic or thing that you will be blogging about.
For example:-
If you are blogging about food then you are a Food Blog and If you are blogging about the latest technology out there then you are a technology blog.
But these niches like Tech, Food, Finance are super huge and very competitive.
That is why modern portfolio-based bloggers choose something which they call a Micro-Niche.
For example;
If you type out the keyword gaming in Google and then hit search, you will see big blogs like IGN, MetaCritic and TheVerge.
Will you be able to outrank them in Google SERPs?
Of course Not.
You are a brand new blog which doesn’t have a lot of authority in the eyes of Google.
Compared to your Blog, IGN and TheVerge have a lot more authority.
So what do you do?
Simple, you start a micro-niche blog.
You see Gaming is a very broad and general term.
Under Gaming, there come sub-categories like RPG, Arcade, Simulation and strategy games.
If you solely focus on one of these subcategories then you have a higher chance to outrank powerhouses like IGN who focus on all of these categories.
“Topical Authority beats General Authority”
As you can see from our curated list of Ranking Factors
But if we were starting out a gaming blog, then we would go much deeper than that.
Inside the Sub-Category Action, We would choose a game like Call Of Duty: Warzone and blog just about it.
So Google considers us an authority on Call Of Duty: Warzone and prefers to rank us then IGN and TheVerge.
There can be 3 types of Micro-Niches in the Gaming Niche.
They are:-
#1 A Very Specific Game
You can blog about a Specific game inside a Sub Category.
Like inside the Action niche you can blog about games like, Crysis, Fortnite, Call Of Duty, PUBG, Apex Legends, Valorant or Counter-Strike to go Old School.
Monetization Methods :-
#1 Game Accessories
#2 Downloadables
#3 Ads
#4 Hardware Affiliate
#2 Walkthroughs
You can also create content around Game Walkthroughs, explaining the interface and UI of new games which get released.
Monetization Method:-
#1 Game Affiliate
#2 Hardware Affiliate
#3 Ads
#4 YouTube Videos (2x More Revenue)
#3 Reviews
Reviews are a part of every gaming blog out there.
And, rightly so because they are fun to see and promise more ROI.
You can review only Software Stuff or Just Gaming Hardware and generate quite a lot of traffic and revenue.
Monetization Method:-
#1 Ads
#2 Amazon Affiliate
#4 ESports
Esports is Huge.
In 2019 alone the Esports industry generated a revenue of 1.05 billion dollars.
That’s a lot of money.
Also, Newzoo estimates that by 2023, the number of esports viewers globally will grow to 646 million, with
“occasional viewers” and “esports enthusiasts” growing from 245 million to 351 million and 198 million to 295 million, respectively, between 2019 and 2023.
And google trends report also does not lie,
You can blog about all the best esports news around that world.
You can even get more specific and blog about a single competition or team.
Monetization Method:-
#1 Twitch Affiliate
#2 Ads
#3 Amazon Affiliate
Suggested Reads:-
The Noob’s Guide To Affiliate Marketing.
How To Choose A Good Domain Name
A Domain name is basically the name you give to your website.
Like in our case howtosuperblog is our Domain Name.
Choosing a good domain name is very important, as it directly affects your brand and its credibility.
If your domain name doesn’t seem nice and appealing then you will not gain natural credibility.
Here are some tips that you can use to choose a Solid Domain Name for your Gaming Blog.
#1 Stay Broad & On Brand With Your Domain Name
Don’t make it super detailed or focused.
For Example, let’s say you have a Gaming Blog on esports of League Of Legends.
Then your domain name shouldn’t be something like
www.Leagueoflegendsesportshub.com.
Instead, you should go with a domain which is much more brandable such as www.legendsepsoprts.com.
Remember;
#2 Keep Your Domain Name Short
Alliteration is key.
If your domain name is not short and hard to read and type then you are shooting yourself on the foot.
According to WebFx shorter domains tend to perform better in Google compared to Longer Domains.
#3 Get Creative
Remember the above example of legendsesports.com.
It was one hell of a domain name with a lot of potential and brandability.
This is an example of Creative Domain Name, as I took the last word of League Of Legends and then applied it with the niche of the Blog “esports”.
And this will be instantly identified by My target audience and they will say this guy really knows what he is talking about and this really is the go-to place for all League Of Legends Fans and Gamers.
You can do something like this or add words like
- Epic
- Legend
- Super
- Some
- Play
- Cool
- Egg
- Chicken
- Machine
- Shotgun
- Jet
- Bot
Your domain doesn’t necessarily have to contain the word gaming or esports.
So you can go with other more brandable terms and phrases.
#4 Use Tools To Generate Domain Names
Believe it or not, this will often happen, you find a great domain name after hours of brainstorming and type it in NameCheap and then you see it was registered 20 years ago.
And this sucks.
But you can still find great domain names using some good domain name generators available out there on the Internet.
While there are tons and tons of domain name generators,
We like and suggest two of them.
They are bustaname.com and Leandomainsearch.com.
#1 BustAName
To use BustAName, first, you have to come up with some words.
Then Type them in.
And it will show you some awesome suggestions
Then click on any domain name you like and it will open up a page like this;
#2 LeanDomainSearch
This tool has a much better UI than BustAName and is developed by the creators of WordPress Automattic.
All you have to do to get domain name ideas is head over to LeanDomainSearch.
Enter the words you brainstormed one by one and hit enter.
It will show you tons of domain names, pick ones which you like.
And then click on the domain name to buy the domain name from Bluehost.
How To Buy a domain name and hosting
If you are on a budget then you need to get Bluehost.
It’s the best hosting out there for beginners. They have got an really easy to use UI and great customer support.
And you also get a free domain name if you buy a hosting plan from BlueHost.
To buy a hosting and Domain Name follow these steps;
Click On This Link. And you will Land Up in a page like this
Click on WordPress from the Menu Bar and then click on WordPress Hosting
Choose the Choice Plus Plan
Type in Your Domain Name (You will get it free for the first year) and hit enter.
If your domain name is available then you will get a message like this
If not then you will see an error message like this
Fill In Your Account Information
GIF ON What are Account Information
Then Uncheck all boxes
And Click On Submit.
Then An Window Like This Will Appear
Pay However you like and continue.
After you complete the entire process you will get some emails from Bluehost with some login details and then you can successfully login to your website.
Changing Some Weird Settings.
So what is WordPress?
Well, WordPress is the most popular Blogging Platform out there for newbies and is also very easy to manage.
A cool stat about WordPress is that it powers 30% of the entire Internet.
Do You know how many numbers that is? Well over A Billion Websites are being powered by WordPress.
That’s how good it is.
The great thing about BlueHost is that it automatically installs WordPress into your BlueHost Hosting account so that you don’t have to install it manually.
Now let us change some important settings inside your Blog’s WordPress Account.
Changing these settings will make sure you make the most out of your WordPress Blog.
#1 Site Title & Tagline
#3 Permalink
Click On Settings.
And then click on Permalinks
Then select the Post Name option
#4 Change Your Crazy Password
Will you remember 3X678fd9su or 3Xtreme#45?
Of Course, You are more likely going to remember the second than the first one.
Because it’s more sort of readable and Remembered.
Bluehost gives you this type of strange password and you should change it so that you don’t forget about it and then lose it.
Here’s A Video You Should Catch Up To.
Choosing A Kick-Ass theme for your Gaming Blog
If your blog does not have a Kick ass theme then you are not going to attract gamers and readers so that they will stick to your blog and come back often to come and read it.
You need a kickass theme to stand out from the competition out there and attract people to come to your blog.
Also, good blog design makes users stay longer on your Blog Post instead of Hitting the back button which will hurt your Google Rankings.
Just take a look at Brian Dean from Backlinko, out of all the SEO and Marketing Blogs out there he stands out in front of people.
Why is it so?
Because his Blog Post design is different and Unique then all other Blogs in the SEO and Digital Marketing Niche.
If a Boring Niche like Marketing can be made so much engaging using a good Blog Design then imagine how much can a gaming blog be affected by this.
What Is A WordPress Theme?
So what is a WordPress theme?
Simply saying it is the header and footer of your Blog.
But all these WordPress themes also come with ready-made templates inside them which you can import and make your blog beautiful instantly.
Free vs Pro WordPress Themes
While there are many Free themes out there that you can use in your Blog, they are usually not that good and sometimes limit the customizing options present in them.
So I will recommend you go with the Pro themes out there so that you can create a design which will stand out from all those who are using the free theme and the template which comes with it.
Our Top Picks Free VS Pro theme
I know some of you out there don’t want to again research about the best free or paid blog themes out there so I decided to cover that also in this blog post.
- FREE themes
- Wp Astra Free
- OceanWP
- 2020 Theme By WordPress
- Pro themes
- GeneratePress
- AffiliateBooster
- Divi Theme
Install A theme On Your WordPress Blog
To install the WordPress theme we just bought follow the given steps below,
Marketing And Scaling Your Blog
Ok, so how do you bring visitors to your Blog right?
It’s Simple, Digital Marketing. Now don’t get scared and overwhelmed after hearing about digital marketing.
Nowadays Digital Marketing is quite simple and there are many tools and Blogs which will help you level-up your Knowledge so that you can successfully scale your Blog to more than $ 2000/month. [ Trust Me ]
These might seem a very large task to overcome, But I have listed out a few tactics you can use to bring visitors to your blog fast. [ We are all about Growing Fast ].
Tactic #1 Make Your Blog Super Attractive:-
Admit it or not blogs with cool design generally have more retention rate VS blogs with not so good designs. Therefore You should always look to improve the quality of your Blog’s Design.
Here are some things you can use in your Blog Design
- Include Hero Images
- Write in short paragraphs and sentences
- Include Sub-headings
- Write An Conclusion
- Include charts and graphs
And many other formatting tricks.
Tactic #2 Speed up your blog website
It’s now an official Google Ranking Factor. Speed does impact your Google rankings.
If you don’t have your gaming blog optimized for speed you won’t simply rank on Google.
So you have to make sure your site is fast. Some tips on how to keep your site fast are:-
- Use Caching Plugins
- Use A CDN or CloudFare network
- Reduce the number of plugins
- Minimize the number of JavaScript and CSS
- Implement Gzip Compression
- Database Optimization in CMS.
- Reducing Redirects
Tactic #3 Create “EPIC” Content
“Content is King” Bill Gates told this right.
No matter how much you promote and Marketing your content if your content is bad and your marketing is great you won’t get success.
Not Convinced Yet?
Recently Buzzsumo teamed up with OkDork to conduct a data study on what type of content goes viral?
And here’s what they found.
Detailed and data-rich articles and blog posts rack up more shares and backlinks than shorter and not much in detail content.
Shocking Right?
What we learn from this is that we should focus on Quality rather than Quantity and invest our time making EPIC content and not Average Content.
Tactic #4 Engage With Your Target Audience
Find out who your target audience is and where he/she hangs out and engage with them.
Don’t engage with the community as a whole engage with then One On One.
Help them, Answer their Problems and then ask them to go to your site if they want to read more of your Cool Stuff.
Tactic #5 Do Some SEO
See I cannot show you the entire SEO process in just a few lines. But I will give you an overview of what SEO looks like.
There are 4 things to do in SEO
- Keyword Research
- On-Page SEO
- Technical SEO
- Off-Page SEO
Suggested Reads :-
Keyword Research For SEO : All You Need To Know
On Page SEO : The Practical Guide To SEO
The Noob Friendly Guide To Link Building
Technical SEO : The Definitive Guide
Tactic #6 Build Your Subscriber Base
You should never focus on one source of traffic for your blog and focus on multi ways to generate and bring traffic to your site.
This is why you should consider focusing on building your Email list or Subscriber Lists,
So that every time you launch a new Blog Post you hit up all your Subscribers to come back to your blog and thus it generates traffic.
Tactic #7 Get Social
You cannot build a successful blog alone without help from others in your niche and industry.
Getting Social and doing Outreach is very important if you want to build a brand and authority in your niche.
Outreach is done usually to build backlinks or ask people to share your content, but we here at howtosuper believe that Outreach should not be done with the only motive of getting links or social shares.
Instead, we Outreach to build relationships and connect with other influencers and bloggers in our niche.
You can use tools like Moz, ahrefs, SEMrush or if you are a free guy Ubersuggest to find who links to your competitor’s article and then use a tool like Hunter to mail them.
Tactic #8 Submit to Content Curation sites
Content Marketing is huge, Just look at the trend report of Content Marketing from the last 5 years.
Every Business is leveraging Content and Blogs to acquire new customers.
But creating content consistently is not possible for everybody.
So they take help from Content Curation Sites and you should always submit your articles to these Content Curation Sites. Some of them are Scoop.it, Curata, Pinterest, Flipboard and many others.
Wrapping Up
So now you have your gaming blog up and running. But the journey has just begun.
You now need to grow your gaming blog to become one of the best.
And howtosuper has all the stuff you need to do so.
With that said join our “Underdog” server in Discord to ask your questions, share your ideas and ultimately to have fun.